


turn to dust or to gold

by quackingfish



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Aromantic, Asexuality, Developing Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-18 03:36:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2333777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quackingfish/pseuds/quackingfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan had spent the rest of the day looking forwards to hanging out with Ray again. Okay, that was partially a lie; he got distracted when Kerry literally poured poison all down himself and just sighed before sending Miles to grab an antidote, but that wasn’t his fault. Those guys could be seriously distracting, even when he was practically fucking pining.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Centuries- Fall Out Boy  
> Giveaway prize for [daveywashington](http://daveywashington.tumblr.com/)

Ryan tucked his History of Magic textbook under his arm, pushing through the crowd of first years to get to the Slytherin dorm room. One of the perks of being a sixth year now was the ‘free’ time that teachers _loved_ filling with essays and charts and other bullshit, but Ryan always managed to find time to relax at least once a week.

Once he ducked inside the common room, Ryan swung his bag onto one of the plush chairs and flopped into one across from it with a sigh. He shut his eyes for a second, letting himself sink into the chair and almost drifting off to sleep before he was interrupted by a loud “Oh, _fuck_ this, there’s no way-“ that descended off into irritated mumbling.

Ryan opened one eye, staring at the kid hunched over a desk, glaring at his book and then going back to scribbling across his scroll of paper.

“What the hell, man?” Ryan called, heaving himself forwards in his chair so he could see the guy better.

“Professor Carolina hates me and I’m going to fail my OWLs, if that’s alright with you.” The kid turned his glare to Ryan, hissing before spinning back around.

“Hey, I was just asking. Don’t need to like, bite my head off or anything.” Ryan blinked, holding his hands out in front of him as if that would calm the situation down.

“Sorry. I’m just a bit stressed, or some shit. Aren’t you the year above me? You should know how it goes.” The kid shrugged, turning back to his work for a second before glancing back at Ryan.

“Yeah, it’s cool. Need any help though? I got an Outstanding in DADA, so I kinda know my shit.” Ryan offered, sliding forwards in his chair and craning his neck to look at what he was working on.

“Wait, you would actually _do_ that for me? Shit, that’s awesome.” He added when Ryan nodded, grinning, “I’m Ray, by the way.”

“Ryan.” Ryan nodded, standing up and claiming the seat opposite Ray. “So, what’re you working on?”

“It’s just some like, bullshit review stuff. I told you I suck.” Ray said, nudging his scroll towards Ryan and, when Ryan took it, tucking a small tablet that had been partially covered by his work into Ray’s bag.

“Jesus,” Ryan’s voice went all high, and he stared at Ray’s handwriting for a moment before bursting out into laughter. “You _really_ weren’t lying about being shit- how did you get _kappas_ and _werewolves_ mixed up. _How?_ ”

“God damn it.” Ray sighed, joining in with Ryan’s laughter. “See, you’ve gotta help me out, man.”

“Okay, I will. I’ll be your wonderful DADA tutor, and I’ll try not to laugh at you too much.”

“Oh thank god-“

“But.” Ryan interrupted him, setting the scroll back down. “ _But_ , you’ve gotta show me how that muggle tablet thing works. I see you guys on them all the time, and I want in. And- actually, nah, that’s my only condition.”

“Okay, sure. There’s no internet actually in Hogwarts, so I guess if you wanna see that we’ll have to get into Hogsmede- some Hufflepuff set it up and I will love them forever for it. But yeah, okay.”

“Uh, okay? Sorry, I don’t really get it, but that’s the point, I guess.” Ryan laughed, and then turned his attention back to Ray’s scribbled scroll. “Okay, what you need to do here is-“

 

Ray turned out to be a pretty fast learner, with Ryan as his tutor, at least, and Ryan had managed to fix _most_ of his mistakes by the time he had to head off to Potions.

“Sorry we couldn’t work on it for longer, but that should be a good enough start.” Ryan said, glancing at Ray as he jammed his wand in his bag, nearly tipping the whole thing on the floor when he tried to rearrange his books.

“Nah, it’s cool- Carolina’s gonna be confused as hell at my sudden improvement. It should be fun.” Ray laughed, snatching at a quill that Ryan dropped. “You think you got time later tonight? I’ve got a movie that you _have_ to watch.”

“Yeah, I should do- I’ll work on my Transfiguration essay in History of Magic; that should give me enough time. Uh, see you later, then?” Ryan caught himself grinning, forcing himself to slow down and stop fucking staring at Ray.

“Awesome!” Ray laughed, waving at Ryan. “You should go now- if you get a detention I will cry. Forever. Seriously.”

“Jesus.” Ryan giggled, already heading for the exit. Fuck, he just _giggled_ , what was even wrong with him.

 

Ryan had spent the rest of the day looking forwards to hanging out with Ray again. Okay, that was partially a lie; he got distracted when Kerry literally poured poison all down himself and just sighed before sending Miles to grab an antidote, but that wasn’t his fault. Those guys could be _seriously_ distracting, even when he was practically fucking pining.

And, if he was being honest, dinner distracted him too, but that wasn’t the point. It wasn’t _his_ fault that the food was mindblowing.

Whatever.

Ray grabbed his wrist as soon as he spotted him, dragging him over to a couch that was partly tucked away in a corner, barely lit by the greenish light filtering through the lake. “Here, I’ll even let you use my good headphones.”

“What.” Ryan frowned down at the- _headphones_ that Ray had just shoved into his hands, and then frowned back up at Ray.

“Fucking- oh my _god_ , stick them over your ears. It’s so you can hear the movie without everyone else hearing it. Genius, huh?” Ray didn’t wait for Ryan to put them on, just smacking his hands out of the way and putting them over Ryan’s head, thankfully ignoring his slight blush.

Ryan watched as Ray fiddled with the tablet and some cables, muttering “You know, there’s a charm for that.” and raising an eyebrow when Ray collapsed into laughter.

“Sorry, okay, yeah. Here we go.” Ray poked the screen, and Ryan blinked at it and grinned as it burst to life, sound flowing out of the headphones. “Welcome to the _magical_ world that is High School Musical.”


	2. Chapter 2

Ray rubbed his hands over his face, staring blankly at the wall while Ozpin droned on, probably something about urgency and how much work they should be putting into his subject. He quickly ran through everything he had to do before going to bed, slumping forwards and letting his eyes fall shut.

He was _so_ fucking screwed.

He hadn’t even gotten a chance to properly talk to Ryan about something other than his OWLs since… fuck, he wasn’t sure. Probably two weeks ago, or more. Someone nudged his shoulder, and Ray turned to see Lindsay packing her stuff away, flashing Ray a small, tired smile.

“Thanks.” Ray said, turning to cram his textbooks back away, pausing to make sure that Ryan’s damn flashcards hadn’t gotten damaged.

As much as he missed having the time to dick around with Ryan, being always busy all of the sudden had taken the edge off the whole huge gay asexual squish issue, which was almost nice. Or at least, it _should_ have been nice, not having to debate with himself if he should just _tell_ Ryan, or find  a way to subtly come out, or just do fucking _something_.

But Ray was a _huge_ nerd with an even _bigger_ squish on his friend-slash-tutor, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

 

“Seriously, Ray- how do you know _everything ever_ about Pokémon and like, almost nothing about magic? Like, that’s the opposite of the balance you need right now.” Ryan laughed, gently tossing a book at Ray. They’d found a normally unused hallway, and Ryan had declared it their ‘practice space’, so Ray was stuck sat on the floor with a pile of books on his lap and an added one on his face.

“I have _no_ idea, man. Games are just so much _cooler._ Okay, I take it back, real life magic is pretty cool, but that’s not the point.” Ray conceded with a laugh when Ryan set off a flurry of miniature fireworks.

“Yeah? What’s your point then? Am I not-“ Ray raised an eyebrow as Ryan paused, letting the moment hang before gesturing expansively and leaning closer to him, “ _-fun_ enough for you?”

“Jesus _Christ_ ,” Ray slipped off his perch on the windowsill, turning away from Ryan as he laughed. “Fucking-“

“You know, that’s actually a pretty good idea. Not fucking, but the other thing.” Ryan hummed, and Ray stayed facing away from him, this time hiding his blush.

Because _fuck_ , that’d be the thing, wouldn’t it? Ryan would never date him because he had literally no interest in fucking him. _God_.

“What?” Ray stammered out when he realised that he was supposed to be talking.

“Use your super gaming skills to learn magic. It’s genius, I know,” Ryan put his hands up when Ray turned around, grinning. He shook his head, shoving at Ryan’s shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re a fucking hero.” Ray rolled his eyes, pulling his wand out and spinning it in his hand.

“I know.” Ryan answered, eyes clear and honest as he blinked at Ray. He had nice eyes, and looking into them Ray knew he was so, _so_ close to falling in love with those goddamn eyes and the goddamn asshole attached to them.

“ _Fuck_.” Ray breathed, taking a moment to steady himself before looking back up at Ryan. “So what, Incendio practice at 4:20? _God_ , I already hate everything, this is gonna work great.”

“Holy shit, _yes_.” Ryan grinned, holding his hand up for a high five. Ray laughed and gave him one, frowning when Ryan kept his hand up. “Now hit my hand with that book. Just- not the face, for the love of fuck.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“Nah.”

“Really?”

“Okay, yeah.” Ryan snorted, biting his lip and grinning at Ray. “Come at me, bro.”

“I’m gonna hit you in the fucking face.”

 

The worst though, was when Ryan decided that Ray was way too stressed out and needed a break.

He’d sent Ray to this _amazing_ room that gave him everything he needed, facing a window and telling him about the weird shit he and his friends got up to while Ray soaked in this _fantastic_ swimming pool that always summoned up more bubbles when he needed them.

Hogwarts had almost stopped surprising him, but Ray totally squeaked and jumped when the bath turned into a row of fluffy towels and robes the second he thought about getting out. Ryan, the insufferable dickweed that he was, just laughed, practically doubling over with the force of it.

“Shut up, you asshole- that was totally scary.”

“Your _face_ though, oh my _god_ ,” Ryan grinned, barely able to talk through his laughter.

“You were looking?” Ray choked, fumbling for a towel and wrapping it around himself, his feet skidding on the damp tile.

“Only at your face. And neck, I guess. And the back of your head, sometimes. There’s a little wall, see?” Ray looked up and bit his lip, staring at Ryan’s face from where he was peering over the wall. “Hey.”

“Hi. Wanna pass me my robes?” Ray worked on calming his breathing, returning Ryan’s tiny smile.

“Sure.” Ryan swung Ray’s bag over, carefully averting his eyes. Fuck, Ray really liked this guy.

He dried off and tugged his robes back on, smiling and leaning into it when Ryan rested a hand on his shoulder. “Wanna go watch some TV?”

“Sure, man. Also I’m like totally proud of you for using the right words, this is an amazing day.”

And like, it totally was- even though there was only a week before OWLs started and he needed to be practicing for like everything, but it was pretty much perfect. Ryan made him feel safe and warm and had these really nice arms that were great for cuddling, and Ray was so, so gone, fucking _drowning_ in the glory that was Ryan Haywood.


	3. Chapter 3

There was a trip to Hogsmede during the last week of OWLs, a welcome oasis in the whirlwind of constant examinations that Ryan remembered having treasured a year ago.

So it only made sense for him to ask Ray out on a date on that exact weekend. He could justify it as some kind of reward for his hard work and stress if Ray didn’t seem keen on the whole _date_ aspect. He wasn’t entirely sure what the difference was between friends having a meal together and two people going on a date, but from what he could tell, Ray would be up for either.

Which just made it all the more ridiculous that it was Thursday and he still hadn’t _asked_ Ray yet.

He _was_ going to do it though. Eventually.

 

“Hey, Ray?” Ryan shifted slightly away from him, though the couch was too small to allow him that much movement.

“Yeah?” Ray frowned, looking up from his book and, seeing the look on Ryan’s face, shutting it and setting it down. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering- you know how there’s a Hogsmede trip this weekend, and you’ve been working so hard that you deserve a break, and I was just wondering if-“

“Yeah?” Ray half laughed, making Ryan realise he was kind of talking too fast.

“Would you like to go into Hogsmede with me, to the Three Broomsticks, maybe? Like, as a date, I guess.” Ryan shrugged, glancing up to watch Ray’s expression, which, of course, was unreadable for once. Damn it.

“Huh.” Ray paused, staring at a spot behind Ryan’s head before looking down again and repeating, “Huh.”

“Um,” Ryan frowned after a moment, chewing on his lip.

“The thing is- I’d like to, sure. I like you, man. But the thing is- I’m asexual.” Ray shrugged, meeting Ryan’s eyes with startling clarity.

“I- I’m sorry, dude, I don’t know what that means.” Ryan admitted, twisting at the cuff of his jacket.

“Fuck.” Ray threw his hands in the air, rolling his eyes. “Of course, I should’ve fucking expected. Wizarding schools, amirite?”

“I still don’t understand.” Ryan forced a smile, laughing for a second when Ray dramatically held out a hand, rummaging in his bag and swearing under his breath. “What the fuck, man.”

“Sorry- did you see where I put my tablet?” Ray laughed, shifting to kneel on the floor next to his bag while he kept digging.

“It’s on the table, under your Divination essay.” Ryan answered on autopilot. This was _really_ not what he had expected to happen. All the movies had like, heartfelt declarations of love and shit, but if he was honest, Ryan preferred whatever the fuck was happening. He didn’t really _get_ the whole declarations of love thing.

“God- thanks. Here, I’ve got-“ Ray slid back onto the couch next to Ryan, leaning against him while he flicked around on his tablet. “-this thing I saved a while ago that explains the whole thing. Sorry.”

“Uh, okay, that’s cool.” Ryan raised an eyebrow at Ray, not even trying to read the names of all the folders he was flashing through.

“Yeah, well. I’m just gonna leave you with this and go up to my dorm to study, just in case you, you know, decide you hate me.” Ray shrugged, placing the tablet in Ryan’s lap and then hurrying to shove all his stuff into a pile.

“Sorry-“ Ryan rushed, “You don’t have to go, _fuck_.”

“Nah, it’s cool. But, uh, if you still want to go on a date with me when you’re done reading, the answer’s yes.” Ray called over his shoulder, leaving Ryan blushing and staring at the doorway that he’d vanished through.

 

Asexuality was a surprisingly simple concept to grasp, Ryan was learning. There was a growing knot in the pit of his stomach when he thought about what Ray had said, about Ryan possibly not wanting to be with him once he knew, but that was probably nothing compared to how _Ray_ was likely feeling right then.

Part of him wanted to run upstairs to talk to Ray like, that instant, but reading was, oddly enough, way too captivating. There was this whole _world_ that Ryan never knew existed, and all this stuff about Ray and-

and there was this thing- this _word_ \- that resonated with him so fucking completely, so perfectly, and Ryan was pretty sure he might cry because of how well it _fit_.

He- he was totally aromantic. That was a thing. There was a _word_ for how he felt, and other people felt it and talked about it and he was _normal._ It was kind of giving him a headrush.

He just _didn’t experience_ romantic attraction. And it fit so well, like that last ingredient in a potion that bound the whole thing together, and Ryan could not fucking believe how _great_ it was.

A hand landed on the arm of the couch, and Ryan looked up, blinking. “Hey, Ryan- sup.”

“Hey. uh, Gavin?”  Ryan laughed, biting his lip and grinning.

“Yeah?” Gavin crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at Ryan but still returning his smile. “You look a bit weird grinning to yourself, by the way.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Would you mind telling Ray to meet me in our classroom down by Transfiguration? He’ll know what I mean.” Ryan shifted to stand up, tucking the tablet under his arm.

“Sure, I can grab him for you. For a price.” Gavin grinned, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“How about I _don’t_ fill your bed with dung beetles later?” Ryan shifted closer to him, glaring for a moment before being unable to hold back his grinning any longer.

“Uh- how about I talk to you about it later?” Gavin squeaked, pushing past Ryan towards the stairs.

“Good.” Ryan laughed, walking off in the opposite direction, weaving through the crashed out 5th Years until he was out of the common room and heading for their practicing room. Shit, this was going to be the best thing.


End file.
